Monday, March 20, 2006

Sugar-Free Strawberry Pie

Since my birthday's this week, I whipped up a strawberry pie we can all enjoy. (And most especially, while strawberries are still 99 cents a pound at Publix!)

I found this recipe in Fran McCullough's Living Low Carb, one of favorite books for cooking diabetic. This recipe still contains sugar from the natural fruit, but buying strawberries in season means you need little added sweetener.



Here is an abbreviated version of her recipe:

Almond Crust
(the most expensive part--have you seen almond prices lately? As much as cashews!)
1 3/4 cups almonds with skins
1 Tbsp. sugar (I forgot this!)
2 packets Splenda
3 Tbsp. softened butter

Butter pie plate with wrapper. Grind 6 almonds in processor until powder, sprinkling over the pie plate. Grind remaining almonds with Splenda and sugar. Mix with butter until it makes a dough. Press into pie plate evenly. Bake 15 minutes at 350 or until edges brown. Cool to room temperature.

Pie Filling:
1 quart strawberries, halved
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp flour
Splenda to taste
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cook strawberries in saucepan with salt and flour over medium heat. Break them with spoon to release juices and stir often to prevent scorching. Cook until jam consistency, roughly 10 minutes. Add Splenda to taste and set aside to cool. While the strawberries are cooking, beat cream cheese until smooth, adding milk or cream if needed. Add vanilla to cream cheese.
When crust cools, pour cream cheese first. Spoon strawberries on top. Refrigerate at 1-4 hours.

I plan to freeze the leftover pie until firm, then wrap individual slices for the freezer. Total cost of pie with on-sale ingredients was less than $5, and the result was more delicious than the standard supermarket pie. Also, my strawberries made a bit too much filling and could have been reduced a bit more.

7 comments:

Just Nancy said...

This sounds wonderful! I may have to try this. Possibly use a different crust, but definitely worth trying! By the way, I love your blog.

Laura Talbert said...

How yummy!

BTW, I thought of you today when I saw Walmart had green cabbages on sale for $.05 a pound. If I could have called you and asked if you knew of anything I could do with a ton of cabbages, I would have=)

Meredith said...

Wow, Laura, cabbage for 5 cents a pound? I guess I would have finally tried making gallons of freshly fermented sourkraut!

Nancy, I have seen other versions of this icebox-style pie at all-recipes.com, which use an almond cookie crust instead. It's not low-carb, but it still has that essential almond flavor to pair with the berries.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! My birthday is on Sunday.

mothersong said...

I need a wheat free crust for birthday cheesecake that falls over Passover. Do you think this crust would go well with cheesecake?

Mindy said...

I love the cookbook..I purchased it a few years ago and it has some wonderful recipes! Thanks for such a lovely post! Blessings...xo

Meredith said...

Mothersong, sorry I just noticed your question! Yes, this would make a great cheesecake crust. I usually make an identical one using pecans instead of almonds, because they are cheaper in my area. Really, any nut will work as long as it goes with the flavor of your cheesecake.